Explore the Family Name Stifter
The meaning of Stifter
1. South German (also Austria); Czech (also Štifter); Slovenian (Štifter): status name from Middle High German stifter ‘founder’, in feudalism denoting a tenant farmer on a previously unoccupied land, or a habitational name for someone from a place called with German Stift ‘church foundation’, in Austria also ‘monastery’ (compare 2 below). The Slovenian surname can also be a variant of the habitational name Štiftar (see 2 below). 2. Germanized or Americanized form of Slovenian Štiftar: habitational name for someone from a place called Nova Štifta, from a Slovenized form of German Stift ‘church foundation’. Štiftar is also a variant of the status name Štifter (see 1 above).
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Stifter in the United States?
Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Stifter has seen a slight decrease in its popularity ranking from 2000 to 2010, moving from 39,052 to 39,212. However, despite this drop in rank, the total count of individuals with this surname has increased by 5.65 percent during the same period, growing from 531 in 2000 to 561 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 people, though, saw a decrease of 5 percent.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #39,052 | #39,212 | -0.41% |
| Count | 531 | 561 | 5.65% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.2 | 0.19 | -5% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Stifter
The ethnic identity associated with the surname Stifter also shows interesting variations as per the data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2010, the majority of people with the Stifter surname identified as White (93.05 percent), a slight decrease from 93.41 percent in 2000. Individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic both made up approximately 2 percent of the total, with the former seeing a small decrease in percentage and the latter a minor increase from 2000 to 2010. The percentage of those identifying as two or more races grew by over 12 percent, indicating a growth in diversity among the individuals carrying the Stifter surname. No individuals identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 93.41% | 93.05% | -0.39% |
| Two or More Races | 2.07% | 2.32% | 12.08% |
| Hispanic | 2.26% | 2.32% | 2.65% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 1.69% | 1.6% | -5.33% |
| Black | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0% | 0% | 0% |